Hello -
The Smithsonian Institution has general guides to the various museums in
different languages - see http://www.si.edu/ in the lower left hand
corner. The Smithsonian also has some other information at
http://www.si.edu/visit/foreign_language.htm . I've seen some exhibits
with bilingual texts here at the Smithsonian - it is usually English and
1 other language (an example is
http://www.si.edu/scmre/santos/mainmenu.asp).
Best wishes,
Ann N'Gadi
Museum Conservation Institute
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ayumu Ota
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 10:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Foreign Visitor Services
I was assigned to review English translation hand-out of the permanent
exhibition labels/captions and am interested to know how other museums
are
developing services for foreign visitors.
Since I am working for a museum in Japan, my institution's first attempt
is
to develop English translations of web pages, a general brochure, and
exhibition labels.
It is possible to translate web, brochures, labels, audio guide scripts,
videos, etc. into different languages. However literal translations may
not
be able to communicate meaning/concept to people with different cultural
background. Do you develop texts by additional/background information
for
visitors who are not familiar with your culture? If so, who will be
writing
these texts (curators, educators) and how to decide what to include or
omit
(visitor evaluation?).
Also, how do other institutions design, train, and evaluate guided tours
in
other languages? If inquiry methods are not common in one culture, does
institution allow more didactic tour or try to incorporate inquires? Do
you
hire multi-lingual person to evaluate these tours?
Any experiences/suggestions/thoughts will be helpful. Thanks in
advance.
Ayumu Ota
Shibusawa Memorial Museum
Tokyo, Japan
www.shibusawa.or.jp
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should
read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
"Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
